In Nathalia Syam’s feature film debut, Footprints on Water, she reveals the lives of a community of illegal immigrants who are always in hiding, away from the glitz and glam of Birmingham.

Hopeful young women from rural Assam journey to Northern India where they risk being trafficked as purchased brides, in Reema Borah’s soul-tearing social drama The Resonance.

In The Bird of Passage, first-time director Harsh Chauhan invites us on a wicked musician’s redemptive journey of self-discovery through the holy city of Varanasi.

Champa P. Shetty’s sophomore effort, Chicken Curry, focuses on a poor villager’s efforts to bring her daughter chicken curry, providing her some of the motherly love that she missed as a child.

The Faded Footprints by Abhik Das follows a newlywed couple’s journey home during the famine and refugee crises that occurred just before the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

In Harshad Nalawade’s well-travelled debut, Follower, a radicalized journalist in a divided community navigates the labyrinth of murderous identity politics.

Renowned cinematographer Sunny Joseph’s feature debut, Salt of the Earth, explores the uneasy dynamics between faith and desire as an enigmatic woman enters the life of a devout novice in a Keralan monastery.

Bhaskhar Maurya’s debut feature, Muthayya, recounts the tragicomic efforts of an aging villager to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming an actor.

In Kuldip Patel’s debut feature Powai, Mumbai suburb Powai becomes the set of a fascinating triptych as the lives of three women from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds interlock in small, unexpected ways.

A leaked sex tape ruins the life of two teenagers, particularly that of the lower-class, lower-caste female participant in Prithvi Konanur’s biting drama about Indian social failings, Seventeeners.

A chance encounter with a victim of domestic abuse and her daughter becomes a life-changing experience for a nearly divorced lawyer in The Quarrel, by acclaimed director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan.

Muslim migrant maid Mariam must engage in illegal surrogacy to provide for her family during the COVID pandemic in director Arvind Pratap’s Mariam, his follow-up to Life is Suffering. Death is Salvation.

Challengers receive mandatory parameters to integrate into their films and they have 72 hours (the youths have 2 weeks) to complete their works.

Based on a true story, Manish Mundra’s Siya portrays the arduous journey of a teenage girl seeking justice after being raped by a prominent member of her community.